Spending up in any daily fantasy lineup is how to get the superstars and the highest upside players in your lineup. In NHL DFS, it’s different from paying up in sports like NBA or NFL. Someone can be one of the highest salaried players at his position and put up a total dud of a performance, and paying that much for him would be a huge mistake. Let’s make sure we are paying up in the right spots when building our lineups tonight.
Friday night features four games on the NHL DFS slate. Let's present a few studs.
Nathan MacKinnon, Center, Colorado Avalanche
FanDuel Salary: $9,100
The NHL schedule begins to invert itself going into next week. With just a few games tonight on this slate, Nathan MacKinnon really stands out against the San Jose Sharks.
MacKinnon extended his point streak on Wednesday with an assist. The Colorado Avalanche center also had six shots on goal and five scoring chances. He just could not find the back of the net as Vegas proved to be too much. Tonight should feature no such issues against San Jose.
MacKinnon may not even face Martin Jones, though that matters little as the only thing to slow down MacKinnon lately is the accuracy of his shot. His shooting percentage on the season has dipped to 10.3%.
Expect Colorado to come out with a much better effort against the Sharks. San Jose played better against the Arizona Coyotes earlier in the week, but this is not Arizona.
Elsewhere, there aren't many great high-end center plays. Tomas Hertl ($6,600) rotated onto the top line the past couple of games for San Jose and may provide a little value.
Max Pacioretty, Wing, Vegas Golden Knights
FanDuel Salary: $8,300
The Max Pacioretty we all know returned with a vengeance on Wednesday night against Colorado with two goals and an assist along with three shots and a blocked shot in a big Vegas victory.
Pacioretty is now on an eight-game point streak, which includes five goals. But oddly enough, he doesn't have a game of five or more shots in that time. The Coyotes allow 30,5 shots per game, which is 17th in the league, so do not expect an outrageous amount of shots from Pacioretty today.
However, the Arizona defense allows 3.16 goals per game -- with that mark up to 3.67 in April. There should be plenty of chances for the Vegas top line, and they're a good stacking option.
The slate has some other intriguing wing options. Evander Kane ($7,400) is one of the better ones, and he is on a three-game goal streak for San Jose.
Jakob Chychrun, Defenseman, Arizona Coyotes
FanDuel Salary: $5,600
It is Jakob Chychrun or else on a small Friday night slate.
Now, there is a considerable risk with Chychrun as Vegas is one of the best defensive teams in the league, allowing just 27.5 shots per game. However, could the Knights have a letdown versus Arizona? It would be plausible given the big win against Colorado on Wednesday and Vegas winning 10 straight.
In an off-game for him, Chychrun still had five shots and four scoring chances against San Jose on Wednesday, but he had no blocked shots. Expect that to change a bit on Friday against Vegas.
Cale Makar ($5,700) is an option as a pivot off Chychrun, and Alec Martinez ($4,600) is appealing at a more modest salary.
Chris Wassel is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Chris Wassel also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username chriswassel. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.